Things have quickly gone from excitement entering the WNBA season to just trying to stay afloat for the Indiana Fever in a matter of one week. The absence of star guard Caitlin Clark has sent the Fever into a spiral, resulting in a downward slide.
The Fever, currently 2-4, have dropped their last three and are searching for answers offensively as to how they can get production to turn things around. The skid has the Indiana Fever dropping quickly in the newest renditions of the WNBA Power Rankings from ESPN and CBS.
Advertisement
After sitting at No. 6 last week, the Fever fell another three spots down to No. 9 this week in ESPN’s WNBA Power Rankings.
Not only has Caitlin Clark been hit with the injury bug, but other key cogs of the Fever’s starting lineup and contributors are taking some hits as well, causing the depth to get tested quite early into the season.
9. Indiana Fever (2-4)
Previous ranking: 6
Next 7 days: vs. WAS (June 3), @ CHI (June 7)
It was a rough week for Indiana: The news that Caitlin Clark (quad) would miss at least two weeks was followed by losses to Washington and Connecticut, the latter of which was the Sun’s only win of the season. Clark’s fellow guards Sydney Colson (leg) and Sophie Cunningham (ankle) were injured against Connecticut. Neither is expected to be out long, but the Fever still signed guard Aari McDonald via hardship exception. – Michael Voepel, ESPN
Unfortunately, CBS Sports was not much more forgiving for the Fever, either. They slide them down to No. 8 in their rankings this week.
Without Clark, the Indiana Fever have not seen someone pick up the slack on offense yet, and that is directly contributing to this slide. To fix this, they desperately need an answer offensively.
8. Fever
Caitlin Clark’s absence has proven to be an even bigger issue than everyone expected. Losing to the Mystics was one thing, but falling to the previously winless Sun was a real shocker. Kelsey Mitchell has only scored 27 points on 8 of 31 shooting without Clark in the lineup, and the Fever need her to be better. One bit of good news for the Fever is that neither Sydney Colson nor Sophie Cunningham have suffered long-term injuries after going down against the Sun. – Jack Maloney, CBS Sports
Advertisement
The Fever have at least two more games before Caitlin Clark could return to action. She is expected to be evaluated on June 9th and could return as early as June 10th against the Atlanta Dream.
The next two games without Clark are a home game against the Washington Mystics tonight, June 3 at 6 p.m. CT, followed by a road trip to take on the Chicago Sky on Saturday, June 7 at 7 p.m. CT.
Contact/Follow us @HawkeyesWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Iowa news, notes and opinions. Follow Riley on X: @rileydonald7
This article originally appeared on Hawkeyes Wire: Caitlin Clark absence sees Fever slide in ESPN WNBA Power Rankings
